


wasn't looking for love 'til I found you

by valkyrierising



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Samurai
Genre: F/F, Mutual Pining, Post-Canon, mentions of team - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 11:53:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13570056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyrierising/pseuds/valkyrierising
Summary: The house up north is hers alone now and there's an emptiness in there that she didn't feel beforehand. Or maybe she did, and she just paid no attention to it. The house doesn't feel like the one down in the city, with Jayden and the team.





	wasn't looking for love 'til I found you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sapphfics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/gifts).



The days that follow after her little brother saves the world are odd. She went back to her home - it's not her home really, but she spent so much of her time there, it feels adequate to call it her home. The plane ride is uneventful and she spends the entire time watching the sky, praying that it'll be over. She trained all her life for this moment and she wouldn't undo it for anything because she knows they're trained to protect the world. But she prays that she and her brother can live lives where they're not expected to be the first and last line of defense. They deserve that much.

 

Coming back to the place where she trained is too quiet, her own footsteps echoing around. It's different from down there where there was so many things happening, not always training. Her teacher had told her that she was ready when she sent her down to Panorama City, had left with a note of some food left in the fridge when she returned. It's a little heartening to get the note despite the fact that she didn't really do anything to help save the day.

 

All that time spent mastering the symbol, all the hours spent on training until she could hold her breath underwater for ten minutes, or crawl through the pit in case of a building collapse, was over. The worst that was envisioned had passed and they succeeded but she failed. It was devastating and freeing all at once. 

 

It's scary in a way, because there is nothing left for her to do. She spent years of her life training for a moment that was ultimately useless because Master Xandred was able to crush the power of the sealing symbol. Her little brother was the one that saved the day and she doesn't feel bitter or angry about the fact, though she thinks she might if she spent time thinking on it. If anything, she's sad because there's nothing left for her to do and the vastness of everything she can do now is so overwhelming her knees buckle and she falls on the chaise in the center of the room. There's not a lot in there besides a bookshelf, the chaise and the center fitted to have a training mat.

 

There's nothing besides making sure she keeps up her strength in case Xandred and the nighloks return, but for the first time, there's nothing keeping her in this safe house.

 

\--

 

There's a bookstore she's always wanted to check out during that time would be spent normally be training. It's peaceful in a way she doesn't know, her limbs constantly in motion. The book she's reading is a romance once and she'd inadvertently flipped to one of the steamier scenes. She blushes but continues reading, engross until she feels a hand tap at her side and she almost throws the poor stranger through a shelf.

 

"I'm sorry," she grimaces, "force of habit."

 

The teenager's shock is evident on his face as she help him back up. Thankfully, she's closer to the back of the bookshop so not that many people see but the kid steers clear from her. He nods hurriedly, getting up and away from her. She grabs her books, the two of them avoiding each other as the other teenager at the front rings her up, disinterest and boredom evident as he mumbles a few things. He throws the receipt into her back as she takes it and she leaves the bookstore

 

The house up north is hers alone now and there's an emptiness in there that she didn't feel beforehand. Or maybe she did, and she just paid no attention to it. The house doesn't feel like the one down in the city, with Jayden and the team. She stays a week later to tidy up what she can, water the plants there, pack some of her clothing and read her books. Panorama City is a chance to finally know her brother after years, to do something that isn’t training. Their mentors kept in touch briefly just to check on one another, but the visits were rarer to get together.

 

\--

 

There's a cat waiting at the front when she returns.

 

She comes back to the main Shiba house a week later, a few of her bags together just to see the cat lounging as she comes through the gate that's cracked a little open. Mentor Ji attending to the trees outside as well, gestures to her to go inside when she arrives. What she doesn't expect is a cat directly in her path, lounging a few steps in. She moves two steps forward to see the cat flick its tail side to side. The cat doesn't move from it's spot directly in between a tree and where the sun is shining. Then she hears the noise and looks up to see Jayden with a guitar. At the moment there is no sound of sticks striking when she came in. There's not that much laughter either. It's just the sound of a guitar being tuned repeatedly, the opening of a song being strummed. It sounds familiar enough that she can match her steps to the rhythm but she doesn't know. The first thing she sees is her brother and Antonio close together, laughing at something that Antonio shows to him. She stills, watching how there's very little space between the two of them and how they feel so comfortable around each other.

 

"Hi sis," Jayden looks up, turning from Antonio to look at her as she waves. Sidestepping the cat that tries to swipe at her legs, she goes up to them with their bright smiles. Her own smile feels unsteady as the two of them look confused for a split second, but shift when Jayden pulls her in for a hug.

 

"Hi Lauren," Antonio says, pulling her into another hug that's more forceful than Jayden. She knows that her brother and her were more awkward than most, their childhood spent more training than anything, but Antonio has always been a ray of sunshine and his hugs feel the same.

 

"I thought I would spend some time down here. It's so lonely up there now," she shrugs. He nods, taking one of her bags from her to go inside.

 

"You say that until you spend a whole day with us," Jayden says.

 

"- Hey!" Antonio cuts in, taking her other bag and following after. She smiles, entering the house behind them to see Antonio jab at her brother.

 

"You want to come fishing with us?"

 

"Okay?" She looks at Jayden, who's grabbing Antonio in a headlock to drag him out.

 

"Let her get changed if she wants to," he says, pulling the two of them out of her room. She's in a skirt with sheer tights and a sweatshirt, a combination she doesn't think too much of.

 

"I look fine," she nods, grabbing another hair tie to tie her hair into a braid and coming out to see the two of them horsing around with a tackle box and a few rods.

 

"Ready?"

 

She nods, following the two of them as they talk to her about a dozen different things related to fishing. She doesn't anything else besides nod, considering that she hadn't ever gone fishing ever. Jayden seems to know a lot though, his smile bright as he explains what Antonio says.

 

They go to the pier and set themselves on either side of her, showing her how to fish. They spend the entire time speaking in jokes she barely understands but she doesn't mind when things are catching at her hook, sometimes fish and sometimes not fish.

 

They take her to get ice cream afterward, handing her different samples and watching her expression. Pistachio is good, but rainbow is better, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry are classics but they're not, to quote Antonio, causing explosions in her mouth. Overall, it feels nice if a bit strange, because Antonio and Jayden seem to be in a world of their own and she's tagging along for the ride. It doesn't matter though because she gets to hang out with her brother and know him, in different ways besides being fellow Red Rangers or estranged siblings. She doesn’t speak as much, preferring to let them say things and respond to that.

 

\--

 

The sound of Mia's voice is something she doesn't think she can forget - she's spent the time away going over everyone's kind faces, their fierce loyalty to Jayden,their trepidation over her taking over as leader. She's not even hurt or mad about it because she'd been trained in isolation. She can't know them like her brother does. She wishes she did though.

 

"Lauren?" She hears Mia from the side, the braid she's put her hair in stuck to her skin. She looks up from the weeding, Mia rushing to help Ji as he gets up. She drops the shovel onto the grass as Mia hugs Ji tightly and gasps when she looks past Ji.

 

"You're here!" Mia leaves Ji's side to go to her, wrapping her up in a hug. She's in a pink sundress, looking like a blossom and smelling like honey. She smells nothing at all like the earthy smell of the grass and dirt she's been pulling up. 

 

"Hi Mia," she smiles as the other girl lets go of her hug to grasp at her hands. They're soft in the coarse gloves she's got on. "Are you going to be here for long? I'm so happy you're here! The others aren't going to be back for a while so I thought it was just gonna be me here with Jayden."

 

"Antonio's here too," she says, aware of Mia’s proximity to her.

 

"I'm just happy you're here," she smiles, blinded by her smile as Mia tells her about the culinary school she'd gotten to, tells her a bit before she gasps suddenly

 

"Have you eaten?"

 

"I haven't," she looks at Ji, who shakes his head as he weeds.

 

"You go inside with Mia to eat if you want, I'll get a break sometime."

 

"Okay," she says letting Mia steer her into the house, saying something about her brother and medical school and a cookbook she brought of things she wanted to try at home. "Is there anything you're allergic to?"

 

"I'm pretty good with anything." Mia claps a little as they make their way to the counter, peeling her gloves off and placing it on a side desk to watch her hands. In her arms is a giant bag filled with vegetables, chicken breasts, a jar of mushrooms and something called nutella.

 

"Tell me about what you've been doing," Mia says as she places a hand up when she leans across to take the cutting board and knife.

 

"I've just been reading. Gardening. I don't really do much because I don't really know what to do."

 

"I can teach you to cook if you want," Mia says, her hands deftly arranging the vegetables to cut in one go to push them into the pan.

 

"I'd like that," Lauren says, fascinated by the way Mia pauses briefly to tie her hair back from her face, leaning back in a way that makes the front of her dress push forward. She coughs a little, the blood in her cheeks warming as she pushes herself from the stool to get some water. Thankfully, she's interrupted by Jayden and Antonio coming in from the front, shouting and saying hello to Mia.

 

"Are you guys hungry?" She clutches the water bottle in her hand, the coolness sticking to her hands that she can place them to her neck to.

 

"Oh no, we just ate," Antonio says as he grabs Jayden's hand to go back outside. "It's good to see you Mia!" 

 

"That's weird," she says, watching as Mia narrows her eyes at their retreating backs before shaking her head.

  
"It's fine, the recipe is enough that there can still be leftovers for dinner."

 

"What is it?"

 

"It's called smothered chicken," she tosses the vegetables into a pot that has chicken pieces on the bottom. She watches as she does this, entranced by her movements.

 

The chicken smells incredible and she eats a good half of it before Mia puts away some for later.

 

"Haven't you had anything like this before?"

 

"I didn't really get to eat much when I was training. I mean I did eat, but it was all protein bars and powders. My diet was basically everything that could help me build muscle and energy because all I did was train."

 

"That sounds like a pretty boring way to eat," Mia says, handing her a plate to put in the machine.

 

"I like how you cook," she looks up from arranging the plates, Mia leaning onto the counter to grab a knife that had.

 

"I'll cook for you if you want," Mia beams, stepping back as Lauren closes the machine. She feels her cheeks heat again and ducks quickly.

 

"I have to help Ji outside but I'd like that," she smiles back.

 

Mia doesn't stay for long; she lives in the city as well, but her home is further away. She stays with Lauren most times though, telling her the directions of how to get to her place. What happens is that Mentor and Antonio try to catch up Jayden on fun things while she fidgets around, does some more gardening and wander the city alone. It's the fact that she was raised in near solitude she's a lot more used to being aware while she wanders about aimlessly. It's strange that as much as she loves her brother, getting glimpses of who he is, she realizes that it's more proximity that matters to her. She doesn't mind her brother and Antonio disappearing for hours end because she knows that he is her brother's dearest friend and he wouldn't let anything happen to him. Just being in the same room as her brother without a constant threat of danger is a realization that they'd live their lives on high alert.

 

Instead, she decides to go with Mia on the times when she feels restless.

 

They run into each other as soon as she steps foot out of the stronghold, walking right into Mia.

 

"Oh," she grasps on her forearm. "I was just going to see you right now."

 

"Hey you," Mia says, tilting her head. "Do you want to go shopping?"

 

"Sure," she says, letting herself be lead away.

 

\--

 

Mia doesn't know why the others don't spend time with Lauren showing her around before she realizes that Jayden and Antonio spending an awful amount of time clicks for her. Naturally, there were feelings that no one had acted on; she had harbored her own crush for a bit on Jayden - they all had. But she knew that as much as he cared for all them in equal and different ways, Antonio was always at the front of his mind. She had loved Kevin, and she knows that he felt something for her too, but he had gone to London to follow his dreams. Her dreams involved having someone to call her own, to live a peaceful life. They were all too busy saving the world but with Xandred gone, they each had things to catch up on while Jayden had so many things he had wanted to do that he had a list.

 

Lauren had been raised alone and came back to a group of people who had time to know each other. It can’t have been easy and she realizes that she really does like Lauren and wants to know her. She’s similar to her brother in that they have eerily focused gazes, partially due to the samurai training and something about them that was commanding. Lauren didn't really have anyone up in the house by herself.

 

It's not pity that she assigns herself to Lauren; there's something about the girl that captures her attention that goes beyond ‘looks like a leader’ or ‘really pretty.’Call it big sister syncing, or anything else, but Lauren isn't someone you left. Her quiet resolve and bright smile, unsure but joyful at any and all experiences given to her, is what makes her decide she’s going to stand out. She pulls up to the stronghold, bag full of produce. She’s taken to doing that, bringing food to cook because Lauren really likes it, genuinely that endears her further. She also brings various things, like magazines or certain TV series to show Lauren to catch her up. Jayden has Antonio, it’s only fair that Lauren has someone telling her on everything she missed.

 

“Did you know I also have a brother?” She tells her as they take their spots across from each other on the counter, chopping up vegetables while she guides. 

 

“Oh?” Lauren responds, a look of shock crossing her face. “What’s he like?” 

 

“A total troublemaker, but he’s really smart,” Mia says, motioning for her to pass the plate. “He’s very different from Jayden.” Lauren gives her a small smile, nodding as she goes into the story of how her and Terry and their band. 

 

\--

 

The thing about Lauren is that she's incredibly quiet, to the point that she hopes that she doesn't find herself annoying as she tells Lauren about everything and anything. Catching her up on pop culture in an informal manner as they pass billboards when they shop is a lot harder because there's so many other things that get tied up in the explanations. Lauren nods, looking at her intently as she glances back towards the billboard.

 

"So a girl is in love with a vampire and a werewolf?"

 

"No she doesn't love the werewolf like that because she likes the vampire more."

 

"Huh," is her quiet response.

 

"We can totally watch them whenever you want to," she says as she pulls on the stop, tugging Lauren's hand to get up.

 

"I'd love to see that," she says as they make their way towards the galleria.

 

\--

 

Shopping is maybe the worst decision because Lauren has half the store in her arms, as does she.

 

"I think we're gonna go over the limit," she says in the middle of them coming out of the dressing room to see each other. 

 

"I have it covered if you want," Lauren goes inside to pull out her red wallet, showing a brief black credit card.

 

"Oh my god," she stumbles slightly, Lauren cracking a smile at her.

 

"So where are Emily and Mike?" Lauren asks her as they return their clothes to the racks.

 

"Emily's still looking after Serena, who's her sister and she's been sick for a while now. Mike's with her and honestly, I don't know when they could come back. She's farther away than most of us," Mia tells her. There's a sparkly red thing that captures her attention besides a black number, "Try these."

 

Both dresses turn out to be mistakes because she can't stop but stare. The black one clings everywhere, the deep vee of it emphasizing her chest. The red one is better, but shorter and sparklier. The pro is that the neckline isn't as obscenely low or attention grabbing like the black one. 

 

"How do I look?" Lauren asks as she tosses her hair back slightly.

 

"You should get them both," she responds. "I know the shoes to go with them." After the shopping, she grabs her hand to go into the nearest Target and find the Twilight movies along with a few personal selections. Lauren smiles at her, a tiny bright thing that makes the lighting in the store feel hotter. 

 

She shakes her hands a bit, pushing Lauren ahead of her as they buy the last of their things to go home. 

 

Antonio and Jayden are nowhere to be found, which is great for them because they have the living room all to themselves to begin the first twilight movie. 

 

Lauren spends the entire time perched on the edge of the sofa while she leans back. She turns back to grab her arm, feeling herself grow warm as she slides her hand up and down as she gasps and tilts her head, laughing aloud in some moment and almost shouting when Victoria’s gang appears. She moves to clutching her hand as she gets up from the couch, getting caught back into the climax as the two of them grip tightly like they could somehow help Bella. She doesn’t ever want to let go. 

 

\--

 

"Let's go to the beach," Lauren says when Mia shows up. She decided to cook something today, wanting to surprise Mia who always cooked for her. She had left a book for her to start cooking, something about her best recipes inside it.

 

"Sure!"

 

They spend a lot of time together, the four of them intersecting at odd parts of the day. Antonio and Jayden usually disappear early on, or after they've already left, and catch them as one of them is leaving the house. Ji disappears as well, the engine of his motorcycle the only way any of them know when he leaves. Mia is helpful as a guide for everything she's missed and incredibly pretty as well, it's almost blinding. She’s working on trying to salvage the breakfast, but looks mournfully at the eggs that weren't really eggs anymore and buried by pineapple when Mia comes in.

 

"I tried to make something for you but I don't think it turned out right," Mia grins at her, shaking her head as she takes the pan to toss it out.

 

"It's okay, we're all bad at the beginning."   
  


"But you cook really well," she interrupts Mia who'd been shaking her head.

 

"I just tried really hard. Every attempt is just another thing to learn of what to do and what not to do. Like remembering to set timers whenever you put something into an oven."

 

She laughs, watching as Mia clears the countertop with different materials and tells her to cut something. Moments like this when she gets to cook with Mia fill her with a type of indescribable joy. She's had a lot of time by herself to realize that she's content with the silence and prefers it most of the time, but Mia's presence is something she realizes is what she was missing. It doesn't matter what they do, whether it's something Mia plans like a hike at the National Forest, or something simple like just spending their time at museums. Mia's a flurry of energy that makes her want to never get caught up soon so she can keep spending time with her, to really just be beside her.

 

It's overwhelming and calming being by her.

 

\--

 

She's thought a lot about kissing Lauren among other things. Lauren was so strong and quiet, but there's a lonely air to her. It always disappears when she shows up and they begin their day filled with activities and hobbies. She doesn't want to press her luck nor make it weird but Lauren looks at her like she's the greatest thing sometimes that she desperately hopes she feels the same way. When Lauren moves to her side of the counter to taste the soup they're doing, she takes the opportunity to get a spoonful ready.

 

"Open," she says, Lauren acquiescing as she brings the spoon up. With one quick move to the side so that the soup will spill a little, Lauren closes her mouth around. It spills and she does her best to clean it with her thumb, brushing her lips before she tosses the spoon aside and surges closer.

 

\--

 

Mia tastes like peppermint and spice, she notes in her head. She was expecting something like strawberries. Then she remembers that Mia is kissing  _ her  _ and she pulls her closer, so that they're pressed up against each other. Mia initiated so she mimics her, mouth moving. She feels a little bit awkward, like a fish but excited because Mia started this.

 

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time," she says when they break away. Mia touches her face gently, brushing strands away.

 

"Oh," Mia says, smile lighting up on her face, "me too." And she takes Mia's face into her hands and kisses with as much enthusiasm she can muster, knowing that while she inexperienced, Mia's there to lead her.


End file.
